In the early morning of July 29, 2023, heavy rain caused the section through Ham Tan district at Km25+419 of the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay highway to be deeply flooded. Cars passing through this section were submerged in water, a truck was swept to the side of the road and half of the vehicle was submerged. Many cars did not dare to drive, had to stop, causing a traffic jam of nearly 10km.
According to Mr. Dang Hung Thai - Executive Director of Phan Thiet - Dau Giay Expressway Project, there are 3 streams flowing from upstream to downstream. Along with the sudden heavy rainfall, water overflowed onto the expressway at the above location. This is an unexpected incident and will be thoroughly resolved.
There were arguments about the cause of the flooding and the Ministry of Transport has come to a conclusion. The cause was the Phan River dam upstream, 8.6km from the flooded area. In general, after dams are put into operation, the downstream flow often changes. Downstream of the Phan River bridge, the riverbed and stream have invasive vegetation, sedimentation, narrowing the flow, causing local water stagnation, leading to a rise in the water level in the culvert area, causing flooding of the road.
Recently, contractors have started building stone retaining walls, drainage culverts, reinforced concrete retaining walls, and surface drainage ditches. The reservoir project, with a capacity of 831 m3, is expected to no longer be subject to severe flooding as it once was.
We appreciate the efforts to implement the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay Expressway flood control project. However, the parties involved need to make a commitment that after the completion of the project, the expressway will no longer be flooded, causing danger to vehicles and hindering traffic.
Another thing that people are very interested in is the rest stops on the highway. According to information from the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay Expressway Management Board, this highway rest stop will be built at km 47+500 in Xuan Loc district, Dong Nai province and Ham Tan district, Binh Thuan province. The two winning bidders are the joint venture Phuong Trang Passenger Transport Joint Stock Company - Thanh Hiep Phat Company Limited, with a total project investment capital of nearly 300 billion VND.
However, the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay expressway rest stop project will take about 15 months to build, so it will not be in time to serve people traveling during this year's Tet holiday.
During Tet, the traffic on the highway is very heavy. Last year, passengers had to climb over fences to use the "free toilets" on both sides of the highway. This year, while the rest stops have not been completed, temporary rest stops should be built to serve the people.
